German Ruhr Area metal commandoTHE VERY END draws a conclusion on 2012:
“Dear misfit kings and dead end queens!
Here we are, watching the last days of 2012 go down the drain, just about a week after yet another proclaimed end of the world. Time for a quick recap of 2012.
We don´t want to bore you with telling how much blood, sweat and tears have been shed, because that´s obligatory. Damn sure we played some great shows throughout the year and looked into some abysses around them, be it weird red light district trips, mud fights or peppermint booze. But 2012 had some more changes up its sleeve for us.
We have bid another new band member welcome. Alex Bartkowski (Ex-Guerrilla) took over from guitarist Volker Rummel, who amicably left the band in summer after a memorable farewell gig at the Dong Open Air. Alex´ official live debut was at the Nord Open Air in Essen alongside Sodom, Entombed and many others, while only 2 days later we entered the studio to record our third album.
Turn Off The World, again produced with legendary Waldemar Sorychta and Dennis Koehne, displays all our trademarks and quite a few fresh vibes alike. We´re simply damn proud of this fucker! The album came out in late November, the release show was killer, too, and the response of both fans and press has been awesome so far!
Now it´s time to get this baby on the road, which is our focus for 2013. Sweaty & loud shows, metal as fuck! Right in YOUR town, right between YOUR eyes! So this is what we leave you with for now – the prospect of numerous The Very End shows, all of which to turn off your fuckin´ worlds for a while!
Finally, we again couldn´t have done all this without the help of our faithful crew, especially Sascha & Featured Artists, Carsten & Cyphers X, Georg & SPV, Roland, our ladies, friends & families and every other helping hand – you know who you are...
Thank you, cheers and may the force be with you. See you in 2013!”
German Ruhr Area thrashers FINAL DEPRAVITY check in with a year-end update and present their new logo:
“Friends & companions, we don’t want to let you enter 2013 without sharing a brief year-end update and latest mission reports with you guys.
2012 was the 5th year of Final Depravity since the very beginnings on December 21, 2007 and once more, change was the formula.
Tristan Maiwurm left us in January 2012 to concentrate on studying drums in the Netherlands.
Our one and only candidate was Jerome Reil from Essen-Karnap - first rehearsals with our new drummer began early February. For those familiar with his last name, Jerome is the son of Kreator drummer Jürgen “Ventor” Reil.
Recordings for the second album Thrash Is Just The Beginning started in July and we’re currently recording final vocal parts and some clean guitars. Mixing will be finished mid January, and Dennis Koehne (Sodom, Exumer, The Very End) is totally entitled to give the album the ultimate punch at mastering then.
We would have preferred to let you hear new thrashing tracks now to commemorate this occasion, but we’re not quite ready to do so yet.
Instead, we proudly present the new Final Depravity logo before this year ends! So many changes had to be expressed by something as new as the band itself, and our own Jerome Reil has designed and drawn this mean bastard of a band logo!
All of us here at FD HQ wish you and your families a safe trip over to 2013, we’re gonna keep preparing some Thrash Metal for you to kick off January the right way.
Thanks everybody! Thrash is just the beginning...”
Here’s what made 'em bang their heads most this year:
Dennis Baron (Vocals, Guitars): 1. KREATOR - Phantom Antichrist 2. TESTAMENT - Dark Roots Of Earth 3. LAMB OF GOD - Resolution 4. OVERKILL - The Electric Age 5. EXUMER - Fire & Damnation
Oliver Hey (Guitars, Vocals): 1. LAMB OF GOD - Resolution 2. KREATOR - Phantom Antichrist 3. TESTAMENT - Dark Roots Of Earth 4. HELLYEAH - Band Of Brothers 5. DESTRUCTION - Spiritual Genocide
Alex Voss (Bass): 1. KREATOR - Phantom Antichrist 2. TESTAMENT - Dark Roots Of Earth 3. CANNIBAL CORPSE - Torture 4. EXUMER - Fire & Damnation 5. OVERKILL - The Electric Age
Jerome Reil (Drums): 1. KREATOR - Phantom Antichrist 2. RUSH - Clockwork Angels 3. KISS - Monster 4. GRAVEYARD - Lights Out 5. MUNICIPAL WASTE - Fatal Feast
South American Thrash Metal purists NUCLEAR from Chile have released an official video clip for the track Breathing Despair on YouTube.
Breathing Despair comes off Nuclear’s new EP, Apatrida (2012, available worldwide through Sick Bangers Metal Label and Distro / Europe: Code7 / PHD).
Formed in 2003, Nuclear has released 4 studio albums and toured in several countries sharing stages with acts such as Testament, Forbidden, Voivod, Grave, Hirax, 1349, Joey Belladonna, Destruction, Brujeria, Hate Eternal, At The Gates and many others.
Nuclear’s best-selling album Jehovirus (2010) was mastered in the UK by metal music engineer Russ Russell (Napalm Death, Dimmu Borgir, Evile, etc.).
GLOBAL THRASH ASSAULT, run by metal head Chad Arnold from New York State, is a blog that focuses on all things thrash all around the globe.
Today, Dec 28, Global Thrash Assault has unleashed Volume 1 of its Wreck Your Neck compilation series featuring 26 bands scattered across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia.
The best is yet to come: you can - and should - download the entire collection of finest Thrash Metal on Bandcamp for free.
01. CONDITION CRITICAL - Time Wave Zero 02. SEPREVATION - Prophet of Death 03. THERMIT - Morituri te Salutant 04. VERMILLION DAYS - Mass Deception 05. TERRIFIER - Hammer Fist 06. NUKLEAR INFEKTION - Progress Holocaust 07. HEAD IN A JAR - Judge Mental 08. BLUDVERA - Voyage Beyond The System (Courtesy EBM Records) 09. POWERED BY DEATH - Hit The Surface 10. DESOLATOR - Toxic Assault 11. KAOSMOS - Believe In Your Feelings 12. SEWERCIDE - Hypothermia 13. GAS ATTACK - Mentally Impaled 14. ANIMATOR - False Flag Attack 15. DESECRATER - Buried Alive 16. SONIC PULSE - Queens of Beer 17. MAD MAZE - Cursed Dreams 18. LICH KING - Axe Cop 19. INSINNERATOR - Curse (Horror of Dracula) 20. NUCLEAR TORMENT - 8 Bit Death 21. REACTORY - Total Destruction 22. VINDICATOR - Gears of Fate (Courtesy Slaney Records) 23. BEAST - Thrash Metal Holocaust 24. RUSTED BRAIN - Caught in the Fire 25. DESTITUTION - Genesis 26. POSSESSOR - Hellbound Drifters (Courtesy Slaney Records)
British thrashers ONSLAUGHT will begin the celebrations of their 30th Anniversary aboard 70000 TONS OF METAL, The World's Biggest Heavy Metal Cruise Festival!
To commemorate this event, they will play two very special sets: For the first show they will play The Force in its entirety, the second show will be a best of 30 years of violence set.
Celebrations will continue with an appearance at Portugal's premier Metal Festival SWR Barroselas (April 24-27, 2013).
The Force, the band’s second album and originally released in 1986, has been remastered by Jacob Hansen and the reissue is available via AFM Records (CD / Digital Download).
German Ruhr Area metal commando THE VERY END has launched its new official Music & Merch Store on Bandcamp. Head over to theveryend.bandcamp.com, check out various merch/CD bundle offers and get The Very Music bundle incl. all three albums Vs. Life, Mercy & Misery, Turn Off The World on CD plus the demos 2K5 and Soundcheck For Your Funeral as digital downloads at a special price exclusively there! The Very End’s latest album Turn Off The World has been released worldwide on November 23 via Steamhammer/SPV. The track The Black Fix features a guest performance by ENTOMBED vocalist LG Petrov (see lyric video below). See also the acclaimed music short film for the Mercy & Misery track A Hole In The Sun, produced by Filmefahrer Pictures and directed by Marcus Overbeck.
Das House of Drums, der Spezialist für Drums und Percussion im Ruhrgebiet, öffnet am Samstag, 22.12., nach der regulären Geschäftszeit noch einmal die Tore.
Von 10:00 - 14:00 Uhr und von 17:00 - 23:00 Uhr steht das HoD-Team für Last Minute Weihnachtseinkäufe zur Verfügung. Es erwarten euch Rabattaktionen, kleine Weihnachtspräsente und natürlich wird auch für das leibliche Wohl gesorgt!
Dallas Bay Area thrash metal band INSINNERATOR has posted the new song Pentagram of the upcoming EP Hypothermia on YouTube.
Hypothermia is set to be released December 22 and can be pre-ordered via the band’s store at insinnerator.bigcartel.com.
Founded in 2006 as a one man project by Christopher "Atomic Thrasher” (vocals & guitars), the Texans are a full band since “Brutal” Ben (bass) and Juan “Speed” (drums) joined in 2007.
Dedicated to “making fast, evil, and aggressive thrash metal the way it should be”, Insinnerator released its debut album Stalagmite Of Ice in July 2011.
The promoters of MONSTERFEST COLOMBIA have launched an all new website for the show at howmuch.com.co/monsterfest. Monsterfest Colombia 2013 in Bogota on January 26 features German thrash metal masters SODOM, TANKARD and EXUMER.
Commented Exumer vocalist Mem V. Stein: "It's an honor for us to finally travel to Colombia and play for our fans there. We were quite sad that we were unable to visit Colombia during our SOUTH AMERICAN DAMNATION TOUR, earlier in May/June this year.
Hence, we were very excited when we were asked to join forces with our friends from SODOM and TANKARD and to play at Monsterfest. This will be no doubt an epic event and something to remember for a long time to come."
ENEMY OF THE SUN, the international metal band lead by top producer Waldemar Sorychta (a.o. SODOM, EXUMER, THE VERY END), are proud to announce Reina Schauff as their new bass player. He is no stranger to the Enemy camp as he hails from the band‘s homebase of Dortmund, Germany. The four-piece, which is the follow-up to Sorychta‘s GRIP INC., is currently holed up in the studio working on their third album, set to be released in spring 2013.
Here is the official statement from Waldemar Sorychta: “Reina brings fresh impulses to the band! We have known him for a long time, and he has always been a part of Enemy Of The Sun, having touring with us on several occasions.”
Commented Reina Schauff: “I am really excited to join this wonderful band. The new album will be killer and definitely the best in band history yet. I can’t wait to get my feet on stage with those guys!”
Caedium, the second album from from Enemy Of The Sun, was released in North America on June 22, 2010 via The End Records and in Europe on May 28, 2010 through Massacre Records.
Absolutely NO Triggering - Just Pure Organic Drumsound!
Drummer Matthias Kassner of German thrash metal titans EXUMER is featured in the latest issue of Sick Drummer Magazine.
Get all the details at this location, it's worth checking out!
Exumer have released their album Fire & Damnation, the first new album in 25 years, worldwide in April 2012 via Metal Blade Records and are currently preparing European and North & South American tours for 2013.
Matthias Kassner also hits it hard in the German rock band CROSSPLANE (see the video for their new single Rollin’ feat. Tom Angelripper, SODOM / ONKEL TOM and Christof Leim, THE NEW BLACK below), and is the owner of House of Drums, the specialist store for drums and percussion in the Ruhr Area.
The pathologist’s report needs to be supplemented by a new chapter: CARCASS vocalist/bassist Jeff Walker has confirmed recurring rumours about the band’s first new album in 17 years. “I think it sounds almost like the missing link between Necroticism and Heartwork, but with some groove in there.” The record, produced by Colin Richardson, will be released sometime in 2013 through a yet-to-be determined label. Thrilled? Of course you are! Get all the details exclusively at Decibel Magazine.
KILLUSTRATIONS, the German design studiofounded and operated by artist Bjoern Goosses, has launched a X-Mas special and offers 3 unique cover artworks for 333€ / $432 each.
Killustrations is known for digital graphic designs for clients like a.o. DEW-SCENTED, NERVECELL, HACKNEYED and THE VERY END (see artworks below).
